Draft-sill.



J. J. IRVIN.

DRAFT SILL.

APPLICATION IILBD 001'. 23, 1909.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

mice I Joli? him [fl/Z77 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN JAMES IRVIN, OF BELLWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRAFT-SILL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN JAMEs IRVIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bellwood, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania,have invented new and useful Improvements in Draft-Sills, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in four-wheel car trucks such asare commonly used on dump cars in which the car body is pivotallymounted on the draft sill for angular movement transversely of the carto enable the load to be dumped from the car body to either side of thecar, the object of the invention being to construct a sectional draftsill, the sections of which are connected for relative turning movementabout their longitudinal axis, whereby inequalities in the level of thetrack rails will not produce injurious stresses on the axles.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portionof a dump car provided with a draft sill constructed in accordance withthis invention. Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal sectional view of thedraft sill, showing the means for coupling the sections thereof togetherfor independent lateral angular movement. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same.Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the same on the plane indicatedby the line a-a of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing a track rail is indicated at 1 and the body ofthe car at 2, the draft sill 3 of the car, in accordance with myinvention, consists of a pair of sections 4, one of said sections foreach car axle. One of the usual pivotal connections between the car bodyand the draft sill is shown at 5 said ivotal connections adapting thecar body to be disposed in a horizontal position or to be inclined toeither side so as to dump the load to either side of the track. Only oneof the said pivotal connections is here shown but it will be understoodthat there are two 'on each section of the draft sill connecting saiddraft sill section to the body of the car.

The frames 7 in which the bearing boxes 8 of the car axles are mountedare connected by beams 9 to the respective draft sill sections, the saidbeams being here shown as secured at their centers under the said draftSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 23, 1909.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

Serial No. 524,203.

sill sections by the straps 10. Hence, each draft sill section iscarried by one axle and its wheels 11. The sill sections are disposed inlongitudinal alinement end for end and in mutual contact and are hollowat their meeting ends, a block 12 being secured in the hollow end ofeach draft sill section by means of bolts 13. Said draft sill sectionshave open slots in their upper and lower sides at their meeting ends asat 14.15. The blocks 12 of the respective draft sill sections areconnected together by a coupling bar 16 which is cylindrical in form andextends through correspondingly shaped openings in the centers of saidblocks. The

said coupling bar forms, together with the blocks 15 a pivotalconnection between the draft sill sections, the pivotal axis of which isparallel with that of said draft sill sections so that the axles whichare carried by the respective draft sill sections are rendered capableof relative movement without the necessity of employing springs and,hence, the weight of the load is uniformly distributed to the wheels ofthe axles, irrespective of the condition of the track and injuriousstresses are avoided, and, moreover, the liability of the car to run offthe track is very greatly lessened by the use of my improved fiexibledraft sill, as all of the wheels are kept in place on the railsregardless of the condition of the track. The said coupling bar is heldin place by means of keys 17 which are at the inner ends of the blocks12 and pass through openings with which the said coupling bar isprovided and the lower ends of which keys extend through the slots 15 inthe lower sides of the said draft sill sections and are provided withrings 18 which prevent them from becoming casually dislodged.

Brake mechanism is indicated at 19 in Fig. 1 of the drawings butconstitutes no part of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, is

A draft sill for dump cars comprising a plurality of sections arrangedend to end and each including a pair of spaced side members, blocksSecured between and located at the adjacent ends of said members andprovided with axial openings co-incident In testimony whereof I aflix mysignagith the lonig axes of the sections, a coupling ture in presence oftwo Witnesses.

a1 loosely itted in said ooenings and n-ovided adjacent to its op dositeends \i'ith JOHN JAMES IRVIN' transverse slots, and keys insert-iblethrough Witnesses 7 said slots to bear on the remote ends of said Rom.D. POTTS,

blocks, for the purposes described. A. C. GUISTWHITE.

